Oregon Ducks fly to No 1 spot in the ESPNcom USA Softball Collegiate Top 25

OKLAHOMA
CITY — A series win over then-No. 1 UCLA helped launch the Oregon Ducks (34-4,
8-1 Pac-12) to the top spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 for
the first time in program history the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of
America and USA Softball announced today. The Ducks received 18 first-place
votes, while Alabama (35-5, 14-1 SEC) and Florida State (38-4, 15-2 ACC) each
received one vote.

Prior
to taking on Pac-12 rival UCLA, Oregon hosted UC Santa Barbara for a double
header with the Ducks collecting two wins against the Gauchos (2-1, eight
inning and 10-4). Heading into the weekend series with an undefeated
Pac-12 record, Oregon kept their conference record flawless as they took game
one of the series 9-7. Oregon continued their offense streak in game two
as Kailee Cuico (Carson, Calif.) hit a three-run home run and a grand slam to
propel the Ducks to a 12-4 (five inning) win, clinching the series. UCLA
bounced back in the series finale, besting the Ducks 6-1. Despite
claiming the final matchup, UCLA (34-4, 9-3 Pac-12) fell two spots to No. 3
this week.

A 3-0
shutout over then-No. 11 South Alabama (30-6, 8-2 Sun Belt) and a sweep of
Southeastern Conference (SEC) foe Arkansas was enough to launch Alabama up two
spots to a No. 2 ranking this week. The Crimson Tide shutout Arkansas 8-0
(six inning) in game one, allowed just one run in a 12-1 (five inning) run-rule
in game two before narrowly edging the Razorbacks 4-3 in the final matchup of
the series. This marks Alabama's fourth sweep in SEC play as the offense
collected 24 RBI's off 31 hits while the pitching staff allowed just four runs
off 12 hits.

Michigan
(39-6, 9-0 Big 10) climbed one spot to No. 4 this week after a dominant
offensive performance at home in which they outscored opponents 30-1.
Michigan started the week with a 10-0 (five inning) shutout over Detroit before
their Big 10 matchup against rivals Ohio State. Michigan bested the
Buckeyes in game one behind Haylie Wagner (Oregon, Calif.), who continued her
dominant performance in the circle as she pitched a complete, 1-0
shutout. In Saturday's doubleheader, the pitching staff continued to
stifle the Buckeyes, giving up just one run on five hits in a 10-0 (five
inning) and 9-1 (six inning) sweep.

Falling
three spots to No. 5 this week is Tennessee (32-5, 9-3 SEC), who went 1-2
against an unranked LSU squad. A three-run walk off home run by Bianka
Bell (Tampa, Fla.) handed the Lady Vols a 7-4 loss in game one while costly
errors by Tennessee's defense resulted in an 8-4 Tigers victory in game
two. Tennessee took the final matchup 9-0 (six inning) behind ace Ellen
Renfroe (Jackson, Tenn.), who shutout the Tiger offense and allowed just three
hits. Tennessee's bats also came alive in the series finale as they scored nine
runs off nine hits, including a two-run home run in the first inning by Madison
Shipman (Valencia, Calif.) and three-run shot in the sixth by Annie Aldrete
(Monterey, Calif.)

Rounding
out the Top 10: Arizona State (35-6, 9-3 Pac-12) remained No. 6 this week
following a sweep of California; Florida State moved one spot to No. 7 after a
perfect 5-0 week, including a 3-2 (eight inning) win over then-No. 7 and
in-state rival Florida; dropping one spot this week is No. 8 Florida (34-8, 8-7
SEC) who dropped their matchup against Florida State and swept then-No. 19
Auburn ; up one spot is No. 9 Arizona (32-8, 7-5 Pac-12), who produced a 3-0
performance on the week against then-No. 24 Stanford; No. 10 Washington (22-10,
2-6 Pac-12) fell one spot despite picking up an 11-0 (five inning) run-rule in
their sole matchup of the week against Seattle.

Falling
out of the Top 25 is last week's No. 24 Stanford (24-14, 1-8 Pac-12) and No. 25
South Florida (29-11, 3-3 AAC), who were both 0-3 in conference play last
week. Joining the Top 25 this week is No. 24 USC Upstate (36-4, 15-2
Atlantic Sun) and No. 25 Northwestern (22-9, 5-4 Big 10). USC Upstate
rejoins the Top 25 for the first time since Week 4 of this season while this
marks the first appearance in the Top 25 for Northwestern since the Pre-Season
poll in 2012.

Leading
the Top 10 this week is the Pac-12 Conference, which boasts five teams, while
the SEC is represented by three teams and the Big 10 and Atlantic Coast
Conference (ACC) are represented by one school apiece . In all, eight
conferences are represented in the Top 25 with the SEC leading with eight, the
Pac-12 with five, the Big 10 with four, the ACC, Big 12 and Sun Belt with two
each and one school from both Conference USA and the Atlantic Sun.

The
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll is voted on by coaching
representatives from 10 Division I Conferences in the 15 ASA/USA Softball
Regions as well as members of National and Local media who consistently cover
Division I Softball across the country.

About
ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing
Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic
Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations
and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local
associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to
over 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 million.
For more information on the ASA, visithttp://www.asasoftball.com/.

About USA
Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the
USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs
together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting
these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic
competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two
women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive
gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine
World Championship titles including the last seven consecutive as well as
claimed six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA
Softball, please visithttp://www.usasoftball.com.

About the NCAA Women’s College World Series
The ASA Hall of Fame Stadium serves as the home to the NCAA Women’s College
World Series (WCWS). For the 24th year, the top eight college teams
in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and complete for a National
Championship title. Last year, over 70,000 fans attended the WCWS. Experience
It Live May 29 to June 4 in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2014 NCAA WCWS are
on sale now,click hereto
purchase your tickets and make a date with champions!